Method and apparatus to evaluate and provide funds in online environments

ABSTRACT

A method, apparatus, and computer readable storage to implement a lending or cash advance system that can be (but is not required to be) integrated with an online commerce site. Sellers on the online commerce site can click a button or tab in their web browser that is visiting the online commerce site and information known to the online commerce site is automatically shared with a potential cash provider. The information can include sales data related to the seller&#39;s business on the online commerce site that can be applied to a formula used by a cash provider to evaluate the risk associated with lending the seller cash. A financial account used by the seller can rapidly receive the cash loan (if approved) and payments received by the seller from buyers would go into this financial account which is then used to automatically pay the cash provider back at agreed upon terms.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation application of U.S. application Ser.No. 13/175,184, which is incorporated by reference herein and itsentirety. Application Ser. No. 13/175,184 is a continuation in partapplication of application Ser. No. 12/436,642, entitled, “Apparatus toProvide Liquid Funds in the Online Auction and Marketplace Environment”,filed in the USPTO on May 6, 2009, which claims benefit to U.S.Provisional application 61/156,865, filed in the USPTO on Mar. 2, 2009,both applications of which are incorporated by reference herein in theirentireties. Application Ser. No. 13/175,184 also claims benefit to U.S.provisional application 61/475,651, filed on Apr. 14, 2011, entitled,“Method and Apparatus to Evaluate and Provide Funds in OnlineEnvironments” which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.Application Ser. No. 13/175,184 also claims benefit to U.S. provisionalapplication 61/481,698, filed on May 2, 2011, entitled, “Method andApparatus to Evaluate and Provide Funds in Online Environments” which isincorporated by reference herein in its entirety. Application Ser. No.13/175,184 also claims benefit to U.S. provisional application61/483,735, filed on May 8, 2011, entitled, “Method and Apparatus toEvaluate and Provide Funds in Online Environments” which is incorporatedby reference herein in its entirety. Application Ser. No. 13/175,184also claims benefit to U.S. provisional application 61/485,119, filed onMay 11, 2011, entitled, “Method and Apparatus to Evaluate and ProvideFunds in Online Environments” which is incorporated by reference hereinin its entirety. Application Ser. No. 13/175,184 also claims benefit toU.S. provisional application 61/500,118, filed on Jun. 22, 2011, whichis incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention

The present inventive concept relates to a system, method, and computerreadable storage that provides a seller that leverages an onlinecommerce site a mechanism to receive cash using a variety of paradigmsto evaluate the transaction and receive repayment from the seller.

Description of the Related Art

Sellers of physical items using brick and mortar approaches (not online)have a variety of mechanisms at their disposal to receive a cash advanceor loan. For example, a seller of widgets may receive a loan or cashadvance subject to a credit or other approval which would consider theassets, prospects and history of the business. Getting cash in theseforms can mean the difference for a company between staying in businessor going out of business as the company may have immediate liabilitiesit needs to address (e.g., rent, etc.). It can dramatically increase abusiness' ability to grow.

Online commerce sites (such as EBAY, AMAZON) allow users to buy and sellgoods right from their computer, mobile or other device using a webbrowser or application. There are also technologies that enablemerchants to launch their own store online. There has never been an easyway for a merchant who sells products or services online to receive aloan or cash advance either partially or wholly based on data related totheir online sales.

Therefore, what is needed is a mechanism by which a merchant sellinggoods or services online seller using an online commerce site (of athird party or their own) can request and receive a cash advance orloan. There is also a need for a merchant (typically online but alsooffline) to proactively provide additional information about theseller's business or access to repayment sources to enable the cashprovider or lender to quickly increase the amount of cash available tothe seller and/or provide the seller with better rates upon which totake the loan or cash advance.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is an aspect of the present general inventive concept to provide animproved funding system for merchants that sell goods or services onlinevia third party or their own commerce web sites.

The above aspects can be obtained by a system that includes (a)receiving mandatory information about a user and storing the mandatoryinformation in an electronic computer database; (b) allowing a user tochoose whether to enter optional information about the user, and uponreceiving the optional information, storing the optional personalinformation in the electronic computer database; (c) computing a scoreusing the mandatory information and optional information if provided;and (d) determining whether to approve a transfer of funds using thescore, and upon approval initiating an electronic transfer of funds froma cash server to an account associated with the user, (e) wherein uponthe user entering the optional information the user receives anincentive.

These together with other aspects and advantages which will besubsequently apparent, reside in the details of construction andoperation as more fully hereinafter described and claimed, referencebeing had to the accompanying drawings forming a part hereof, whereinlike numerals refer to like parts throughout.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Further features and advantages of the present invention, as well as thestructure and operation of various embodiments of the present invention,will become apparent and more readily appreciated from the followingdescription of the preferred embodiments, taken in conjunction with theaccompanying drawings of which:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating components of an online salessystem, according to an embodiment;

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating an exemplary method of completing afactoring transaction, according to an embodiment;

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating an exemplary method of completing acash advance transaction, according to an embodiment;

FIG. 4 is a flow diagram illustrating flows of money and items betweendifferent parties involved in a transaction, according to an embodiment;

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating an exemplary method of implementingrepayment of a loan or advance, according to an embodiment;

FIG. 6 is a window showing an application screen, according to anembodiment;

FIG. 7 is a window showing an approval screen, according to anembodiment;

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating an exemplary method of implementingrepayment of a cash advance, according to an embodiment;

FIG. 9 is a window showing an advance application, according to anembodiment;

FIG. 10 is a window showing an advance approval, according to anembodiment;

FIG. 11 is a flowchart illustrating an exemplary method of issuinginstant loan prequalifications, according to an embodiment;

FIG. 12 is a window showing a list of profile building levels, accordingto an embodiment;

FIG. 13 is a window showing a friend list for a user, according to anembodiment;

FIG. 14 is a window allowing a user to enter login information for anumber of web sites with relevant information;

FIG. 15 is a flowchart illustrating an exemplary method of allowing auser to enter profile data using profile building levels, according toan embodiment;

FIG. 16 is a flowchart illustrating an exemplary method of determiningfinancial terms using a profile level, according to an embodiment;

FIG. 17 is a flowchart illustrating an exemplary method of issuing aletter of credit for a seller at an e-commerce web site, according to anembodiment; and

FIGS. 18-26 are screenshots of an example of the “profile building”embodiment, according to an embodiment.

Reference will now be made in detail to the presently preferredembodiments of the invention, examples of which are illustrated in theaccompanying drawings, wherein like reference numerals refer to likeelements throughout.

Inventive concepts described herein can be used in conjunction withelectronic auction, online marketplace and standalone web systems,including those described in U.S. patent application Ser. Nos.11/776,059; 11/646,934; and Ser. No. 11/167,999, all three of theseapplications are incorporated by reference in their entireties.

A traditional loan is where a borrower borrows funds from a lender inexchange for repayment of those funds with interest to compensate theborrower for the loan and risk involved if the borrower defaults.

An advance is where a seller receives funds from an advance provider inexchange for the purchase of receivables, which can be either currentlyowed to the seller by one or more third parties or can be futurereceivables which can represent the expectation of future sales by theseller. Payments received from these receivables are then applied topaying off the advance. Payments from receivables can be used from allreceivables of the seller and not limited to particular accounts of theseller. Once the advanced amount is fully paid by the seller then allreceivables once again become the property of the seller (unless afurther advance is made).

Following a purchase from the seller, the advance provider either takesdirect control of the receivables and receives direct payments from theseller's customers of the purchased receivables, or the advance providercollects the proceeds from the seller. Therefore, the advance provideris depending on the first party's customers to continue to purchase (orconsummate, in some instances) and fulfill payment for the transactionwith the first party. If the customers do not purchase the expectedamount of goods from the seller or do not pay for them, the cashprovider would have to either (depending on the agreement between theseller and the cash provider) 1) take the loss, or 2) hold the seller(or a principle of the first party) liable for any payment of deficiencyfrom the receivables. It is also possible that payments from thecustomers of sellers are split in some predetermined or other manner,with some of these payments going directly to the cash provider and thebalance going to the seller.

A merchant account advance is an advance by an advancing party that usesa seller's merchant account in order to receive payments by the sellerfor the amount advanced. For example, a seller uses their merchantaccount to receive payments by credit card (e.g., VISA, MASTERCARD).Once payments are processed the amounts go directly into the seller'smerchant account. When a merchant account advance (or “merchant cashadvance”) is made, when a payment is processed, instead of it goingdirectly into the seller's account the payment may go directly into anaccount of the advancing party. There are alternative ways to implementmerchant cash advance, including a simple advance against futurereceivables, but when these receivables are received they still go intothe existing payment account.

Factoring is similar to the advance (described above) but a factortypically provides cash to a seller based only on particular accounts ofthe seller's receivables (either past amounts owed, amounts currentlydue or future sales to particular parties). Thus, only the receivablesfor these particular accounts (which will be agreed upon beforehand byboth parties) will be used to satisfy the advanced amount and pay backthe factor. The Factor can also use the seller's merchant account toreceive payment as discussed above. Thus, a factoring arrangement can beconsidered a type of advance, although some may simply refer to it as apurchase and sale arrangement. As used herein, “advance” also includes afactoring agreement.

A lender, advance provider, factor, and any other party that wouldtransfer money to a seller with the expectation of receiving more thanthe amount provided to the party receiving the cash can all be generallyreferred to herein as a “cash provider.” The cash provider wouldtypically analyze data related to online sales of the seller andfacilitate repayment from one or more sources in order to conclude thatthe risk of making (or increasing) the loan or advance (or decreasingthe rate) is acceptable. All features described herein can be applied toany type of cash provider. As used herein, references to sellers andmerchants are interchangeable.

An example will be presented to illustrate the concept of factoring, butof course this is just an example and is not applicable to allsituations. Suppose company A sells computers to customers X, Y and Z.Company A pays $100 for each computer and sells them for $200 each. Eachof customers X, Y and Z purchases on average 5 computers per month,which comes to $3,000 gross receivables or $1,500 in profit per month.On January 1, company A needs cash and cannot wait for the computers tobe sold. So company A sells the next $1,000 of gross receivables forclients X and Y (but not Z) to a cash provider (factor). The cashprovider pays immediately pays company $900 for the $1,000 (a 10%discount). When $1,000 in payments comes in to company A from X and Ythese payments go to the cash provider. If these payments do not come infrom X and Y then the cash provider (in this example) would not be ableto obtain payment from company A. Therefore, before agreeing to buycompany A's receivables, the cash provider would typically investigatethe financial status of X and Y and their purchasing habits (e.g.,whether they always purchase their computers from company A; whetherthey are obligated by contract to purchase from company A and whethercompanies X and Y are financially sound). When payments come in from Xand Y, the cash provider may have arranged with company A to allow thebuyer direct access to company A's business banking or merchantprocessing account, so that when the money comes in, the cash providercan immediately obtain and/or transfer these funds to the buyer's ownbank account before company A can divert these funds. Company A can thuspurchase the accounts X and Y from company A at a discount, but the cashprovider is not technically purchasing against all receivables fromcompany A. In other words, the cash provider is not purchasing allreceivables by company A but only against certain accounts fromparticular clients of company A. If Z makes purchases from A, if the Zaccount was not part of the factoring agreement between company A andbuyer, then the cash provider cannot attach funds from the Z account.

In another example related to the above example, instead of the limitingthe accounts to X and Y, a cash provider (an advance provider) canadvance cash to the seller for all of the seller's clients/accounts(which would include X, Y, and Z), and receivables from all of theseclients/accounts would then go to satisfy the advanced amount. Forpurposes of this discussion, this would be considered an “advance”instead of “factoring” since all of the receivables are used to satisfythe advanced amount. Thus, in the above example, customer Z of company Acould be used (unlike the factoring example) to satisfy the amount owedto the cash provider. In fact, all accounts/receivables could/would beused to satisfy any cash advance made by a cash provider. Thus, whenevercompany A receives cash in their account, it would be applied towardspaying off the cash advance amount to the cash provider. The cashprovider and seller would typically agree to terms of repayment (e.g.,instead of taking all cash received by the company as soon as it comesin, they might take for example $500 per month on the first day of eachmonth to satisfy a $1,000 cash advance).

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating components of an online salessystem, according to an embodiment.

A buyer 100 uses an online commerce site 106 (e.g., EBAY, AMAZON.COM,etc.) to purchase items (such as computers, etc.) from a seller 102using a payment processor 108. This can be done as known in the art anddescribed in all of the patent documents that are referred to herein.Visitors (such as visitor 104) can visit the commerce site 106 andbrowse items for sale by sellers and take on the role of buyer if thevisitor 104 wishes to purchase from any seller.

The seller 102 desires to receive cash (which can be in the form of atraditional loan, factoring, an advance, or other arrangement) from cashserver 112. The cash server 112 is operated and maintained by an entitywhich serves as the cash provider, and when cash server 112 is usedherein it can refer to both the actual server processing the transactionas well as the party acting as the cash provider. The cash server 112can process a request for cash (using any type of arrangement) and caninstantly and automatically process the cash transaction. The cashserver 112 may evaluate a variety of information regarding the sellerincluding the seller's financial accounts, receivables, client accountsand respective clients, and/or all other relevant data to make adetermination that providing cash to the seller is a good decision (moreon this will be discussed herein) and what amount of cash would beappropriate. This can be set up as a line of cash from which a sellercan draw funds. “Cash” as used herein can refer to placing funds into anaccount of or associated with the seller (which can then be withdrawn bythe seller in the form of cash or used in whatever manner the sellerwishes). Typically the cash server 112 would provide to the seller 102 acash amount with such terms so that the cash provider would expect tomake a profit from the transaction (and also to offset the risk involvedwith providing cash to the seller and other sellers).

The cash server 112 can administer cash requests from seller 102 andaccommodate such requests by either rejecting requests that are notapproved or accepting such requests and arranging for cash (liquidfunds) to be delivered electronically to the requesting seller. The cashserver 112 can process cash requests based on at least one of thearrangements described herein (or others known in the art). If approved,cash can be delivered electronically leveraging the cash server 112 tothe seller 102, such cash can either be directly funded from a partyadministering the cash server 112 or indirectly funded from a thirdparty investor 110 in communication with the cash server 112.

A third party payment system (such as PAYPAL) can be used to make thetransfer of cash from the cash provider to the seller. Payments backfrom the seller to the cash provider would (in one embodiment) use thesame payment system/account (or another payment system/account of theseller) so that the seller can make payments back to the cash providerin order to pay off the amount owed to the cash provider. Thus, when theseller makes a sale and has received proceeds from that sale (in thesame account that the initial cash was provided to the seller or anotheraccount of seller), the seller can then take the proceeds or other cashin the account (or a portion) automatically out of this account in orderto satisfy the amount owed to the cash provider. The agreement betweenthe cash provider and the seller (before any cash is transferred fromthe cash provider to the seller) could require that the seller only usea particular payment system/account (e.g., a particular PAYPAL account)when receiving proceeds from sales.

All of the methods described herein can be automatic, in that they areprocessed electronically and can typically be processed in real time(unless further information from a human may be needed, for example inthe event of an error or unavailable information). Real time can be amatter of minutes (or less) if everything goes smoothly (since no humanoperator need be involved).

A third party investor 110 can be used in an embodiment in which thirdparties invest in transactions between the cash server 112 and sellersin order to invest. For example, the third party investor 110 couldactually provide an advance (or a portion of) from the cash server 112made between the cash server 112 and the seller 102) and receivespayments from the seller against the advanced amount. The investor'smoney can also be put into the seller's PAYPAL (or other agreed uponaccount as well). The cash server 112 can request and receive all data(financial data, sales transactions, credit reports, etc.) from allrelevant parties in order to process requests and find a prospectiveinvestor. More on the operations of cash server 112 will be discussedbelow. It is noted that whenever a credit report is retrieved for theseller to analyze the seller's credit worthiness, the credit report thatis used is associated with the seller (e.g., if the seller is using acompany name on online commerce site), the credit report used can be acredit report for the actual company name (e.g., a business creditreport) or a personal credit report for the main proprietor operatingthe company trading under the company name on the online commerce site.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating an exemplary method of completing afactoring transaction, according to an embodiment.

The method can begin with operation 200, wherein the seller requests afactoring transaction from a factor (cash provider). The seller can beany seller on an online commerce site. They seller may be required toregister with an additional server (maintained by a party separate fromthe online commerce site) in order to be able to activate thisfunctionality. A tab on the online commerce site can allow the seller tosimply click it in order to initiate this method. In another embodiment,the seller does not have to make a request and the system wouldautomatically make a determination as to whether the seller qualifiesfor a cash amount (and how much). The request may also require theseller to identify a financial transaction account that the seller usesto process its transactions (e.g. PAYPAL) so such account can beevaluated as well and used to transfer funds (to and from the seller).

From operation 200, the method proceeds to operation 202, whichtransmits seller information to a cash server (such as cash server 112).The cash server is ideally operating in conjunction with the onlinecommerce site (although it may be operated by an entirely separateentity) and will analyze the requested transaction for approval ordenial. The seller information is transmitted to the cash server. Theseller may be required to provide the seller's account identification onthe online commerce site so that the cash server can examine theseller's transaction history. The information transmitted to the cashsever can comprise the amount of the request (although in anotherembodiment the seller does not request a particular amount and thesystem determines and informs the seller how much the seller qualifiesfor), which designated customers (income streams) the factoring requestshould be evaluated against (used to satisfy the money advanced), anyfinancial data regarding the seller, financial (and any other data)regarding the customers (so their solvency can be evaluated as wellsince their payments to the seller will be directed back to the cashserver to satisfy the money provided by the cash server). Theinformation transmitted can come from the online commerce site and/orthird party site (such as credit reporting bureaus, etc.)

From operation 202, the method proceeds to operation 204, wherein thecash server evaluates the seller's receivables information and/ortransaction history. The information evaluated can comprise the types ofproducts being listed, the customers that are included in the request(from operation 200), the financial aspects of those customers, theamount and frequency of purchases from those customers to the seller,and/or any other relevant transaction or other data. Relevant data isdata which would contribute to computing a more accurate score (inoperation 208) to evaluate the relative risk of approving thetransaction requested in operation 200 (similar to a credit score).

From operation 204, the method proceeds to operation 206, wherein thecash server may evaluate the seller's customers which are identified inthe request (from operation 100) as being accounts that will be used torepay money that might be transferred by the cash server to the seller(in operation 212). The seller's customers can be evaluated based ontheir own transaction history, cash flows, money in their bank accounts,purchasing history (with the seller and with other parties), and/or ifthey sell goods their sales data as well. Any other relevant data aboutthe seller's customers can be evaluated in order to evaluate therelative risk of approving the transaction requested in operation 200.In addition, other factors may be examined as well in evaluation (asidefrom the seller's customers).

From operation 206, the method proceeds to operation 208, wherein thecash server takes all of the relevant data acquired in operations 204and 206 and applies a numerical formula that produces a score. Anyadditional information that may be relevant from any source may also beincorporated into the formula. Additional information can also beinformation from the financial account used by the seller which receivespayments from other or all buyers (and other payments) to the seller. Byexamining this account (and details thereof such as all transactions),the cash flow of the seller may be determined. The payments from thedesignated customers can also be evaluated to see if they are adequateto meet repayment. The score can typically be a single number, althoughin another embodiment it can be multiple numbers (e.g., a differentvalue for more than one category of relevant factors). For example, oneexample of a very simple score could be the average amount of sales theseller generates each month multiplied by a constant plus an averageamount of purchases the seller's customers (buyers) make multiplied by aconstant. This is just a very simple example, and all known and relevantdata can be incorporated into a simple or complex formula which resultsin one or more numbers representing the score. Some or all datacollected can also be used in calculating how much of a cash advance orloan should be provided to the seller.

From operation 208, the method proceeds to operation 210, whichdetermines if the score computed in operation 208 is greater than apredetermined threshold requirement for approving a transaction. If thescore computed in operation 208 is actually more than one number, theneach of the numbers would have to be greater than a predeterminedthreshold in order for the transaction to be approved. In oneembodiment, the score(s) would be used to determine whether or not toapprove the transfer of funds to the seller for a particular amount. Inanother embodiment, the score(s) can be used to determine whether toapprove transfer of funds and a maximum amount of funds that areapproved for transfer to the seller.

If in operation 210, the score is greater than the threshold, then themethod proceeds to operation 212, wherein the cash server purchases thereceivables (completes the factoring transaction requested in operation200). This also means that the cash server will initiate a cash transferto the seller.

If it is determined in operation 210 that the score is not greater thanthe threshold, then the method proceeds to operation 214 wherein thecash server declines to purchase the receivables (the transactionrequested in operation 200 is not approved). The seller is notified thatthey are ineligible for a transaction. Alternatively, the seller may benotified that he or she qualifies for a reduced amount of funds and canbe given the opportunity to accept that.

FIG. 2 was directed to a request for cash in based on factoring (forparticular accounts of the seller). While related, an advance (asdiscussed above) is different in that the funds used for repayment arenot relegated to particular seller accounts but instead the cash serverwould be potentially paid from all cash funds received by the seller,regardless of which individual accounts/purchasers from the seller.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating an exemplary method of completing anadvance transaction, according to an embodiment. It is noted that themethods illustrated in FIGS. 2-3 (and all related operations) canoperate automatically and instantly (subject to normal computerprocessing times). The transfer of money to the seller (including all ofthe operations required therein) can also operate (once the sellerindicates his/her decision that they want the cash) automatically andinstantly (subject to normal computer processing times).

The method can begin with operation 300, wherein the seller requests acash advance. The seller can press a tab or button using the standardinterface on an online commerce web site, upon which the seller can beprompted with a screen that can ask how much money the seller wishes tobe advanced (although in another embodiment the seller does not specifyan amount of money and the system would compute and inform the sellerhow much the seller qualifies for) and any other relevant information.In the alternative, the system can skip this operation (the seller doesnot have to make a request) and go straight to operation 302 andsubsequently to operation 304, where the system will analyze theseller's sales history information and indicate to seller the amountthat the cash provider is willing to advance to the seller. The sellerwill make a decision as to how much of the available cash the sellerwishes to receive. The request may also require the seller to identify afinancial transaction account that the seller uses to process itstransactions (e.g. PAYPAL) so such account can be evaluated as well andused to transfer funds (to and from the seller). All of this informationis transmitted to the cash server.

From operation 300, the method proceeds to operation 302, wherein theseller's information is transmitted to the cash server. The seller'sinformation can comprise all or some of the financial information knownby the online commerce web site (e.g., sales history, etc.) as well asinformation received from third party sites (e.g., credit bureaus, etc.)The seller can be prompted to associate data sources (e.g., the seller'sbank account, PAYPAL or other account used for sales on the e-commercesite, and the cash server can then pull information from those datasources and analyze that data. The cash server (in an embodiment) canthen (based on all of the data obtained and the analysis of that data)determine (if the seller qualifies) a maximum amount the seller wouldqualify for and prompts the seller to enter the amount (no higher thanthe maximum amount) the seller desires to receive.

From operation 302, the method proceeds to operation 304, wherein thecash server evaluates the seller's cash flow. All or some of the cashcoming into the seller can be evaluated, as well as cash leaving theseller (e.g., being paid from seller to other parties). The types ofitems the seller is selling can also be evaluated. Also, a variety ofother data can be evaluated such as length in business, chargeback andreversal rates, seller rating, and, potentially, other data available.Essentially, any data that is accessible to the cash provider could betaken into account, as appropriate, in the cash provider's analysis.

From operation 304, the method can proceed to operation 306 (or thisoperation can be skipped), wherein the cash server also evaluates theseller's customers (parties that are paying the seller money). If thesecustomers themselves have a good financial status then this weighs infavor of approving the transaction requested by the seller in operation300. In some embodiments, the seller's customers would not be analyzed(e.g., in a merchant cash advance or lending model, this may not benecessary).

From operation 306, the method proceeds to operation 308, wherein thecash server assigns a numerical score using a formula applied to therelevant data retrieved from operations 304 and 306. This is similar tooperation 308, although may or may not use a different formula toproduce the score because this is not the factoring-type transaction inFIG. 2. Any additional information that may be relevant from any sourcecan also be incorporated into the formula. Additional information canalso be information from the financial account used by the seller whichreceives payments from all buyers (and other payments) to the seller. Byexamining this account (and details thereof such as all transactions),the cash flow of the seller can be determined. The score can typicallybe a single number, although in another embodiment it can be multiplenumbers (e.g., a different value for more than one category of relevantfactors). In another embodiment, the raw data may also be incorporatedinto a general formula in the absence of creating a score and used, asappropriate, to make a determination. Some of this raw data may becalculated into an average or aggregate number, but also not necessarilyform the basis of a specific score when combined with other attributes.

From operation 308, the method proceeds to operation 310, whichdetermines if the score computed in operation 308 is greater than apredetermined threshold requirement for approving a transaction. If thescore computed in operation 308 is actually more than one number, theneach of the numbers would have to be greater than a predeterminedthreshold in order for the transaction to be approved. In thealternative, the score could be used for other purposes such as lineassignment, rate (or fee or other cost) calculation or special repaymentrequirement. In an embodiment, there can be more than one score, andapproval requiring thresholds for each score.

If in operation 310, the score is greater than the threshold (or, atleast, enables a transaction to proceed with other requirements,restrictions or limitations), then the method proceeds to operation 312,wherein the cash server completes the transaction requested in operation200, which means that the cash server will initiate a cash transfer tothe seller with particular repayment terms. In one embodiment the sellerrequests a particular amount of cash the seller would like. In anotherembodiment, the seller does not request a particular amount and thesystem determines and informs the seller the maximum amount the sellerwould qualify (based on the seller's score(s)) for (upon which theseller can accept or request a lesser amount).

If it is determined in operation 310 that the score is not greater thanthe threshold, then the method proceeds to operation 314 wherein thecash server declines to approve the transaction, and the seller isnotified that the transaction is denied. Once again, a transaction maybe approved even below a certain threshold, but cause other requirementsto the terms of the provision of cash.

FIG. 4 is a flow diagram illustrating flows of money and items betweendifferent parties involved in a transaction, according to an embodiment.

A seller 400 on an online commerce site makes a cash request 402 (loan,factoring arrangement, or cash advance) from a cash server 401. The cashserver 401 evaluates the request which could include checkinginformation with a database 410. The database 410 can be any single orcollection of databases that may have relevant information about theseller and can include the online commerce site itself that the selleris utilizing where the request 402 was made. FIG. 4 assumes the request402 was approved (the methods illustrated/described in FIGS. 2-3 can beused to determine whether the request is approved or not). In FIG. 4,time is represented on the x-axis, thus events take place in the orderfrom left to right.

The cash server electronically sends a loan (or advance) in the form ofcash 403 to the seller in the amount of $X. $X may be the amount of theoriginal request 402, or it may be less if the cash server decided notto approve for the full amount of $X (or if the cash server initiallydetermined a maximum amount of cash it desired to provide and, fromthere, the Seller 400 selects the amount the seller desires from theavailable amount). Seller 400 will receive a notice (typically viaemail, text or through a web/mobile interface) that the request 402 wasapproved and that $X cash will appear in the seller's account (bankaccount or account used with the online commerce site or other selectedaccount) shortly.

Customers 403 of the online commerce site pay $Y 404 to seller for items(or services) and seller 400 delivers items 405 to the customers 403.This is done as known in the art, wherein the customers can pay the $Y404 electronically to seller and the items 405 can be shipped via mail(or other means).

A payment of $Z 406 is made to the cash server 401 in order to settlethe loan (or advance) of $X 403 made. In this manner, the seller 400 was(upon its request) provided with cash ($X) by the cash server 401 whichwas paid back to the cash server 401 using funds $Y 404 received fromcustomers 403. The repayment process may also be automated such that thecash server can take cash automatically from a designated repaymentsource(s).)

Cash payments made between parties can be accomplished using anelectronic payment processor (e.g., PAYPAL, ACH, etc.), which is notpictured in FIG. 4.

Typically, payment $X 403 from the cash server 401 to the seller 400will be less than payment $Z 406 from the seller 400 to the cash server401 so that the cash server will make a profit from the transaction.

When a loan, factoring arrangement, or cash advance (or other type ofprovision of cash) is made to a seller, the seller would typically repaythe funds using an electronic payment account (e.g., PAYPAL). The fundscan be taken out of the account automatically at agreed upon times (andamounts), until the entire amount due is paid off (or according to aschedule promulgated by the cash provider). The financial account usedby the cash server 403 to make the loan (or advance) $X 403 wouldtypically be same account user by buyers to make payments $Y 404 to theseller. This same account would also typically be used to repay the cashsever 401 the payments $Z 406. Thus, financial data from this accountwould be available to the cash server 401 at all times so that the cashserver 401 would monitor the account and know when to automatically takefunds from this account for repayment.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating an exemplary method of implementingrepayment of a loan or advance, according to an embodiment. Therepayment method illustrated could apply to repayment to the cash server(cash provider) regardless of the arrangement and terms made regardingthe disbursement of the initial cash amount to the seller by the cashprovider.

The method begins with operation 500, wherein an advance or loan requestis approved. This is done as illustrated in FIG. 2 and the accompanyingdescription. If a factoring arrangement, the seller would typicallydesignate which of the seller's clients (customers) the advance or loanwould be against (repaid by receivables from). In other words, the cashserver would be purchasing the receivables from the designated customersof the seller. If it was a merchant cash advance arrangement, then theseller would not need to identify particular clients (customers) becausepayments to the seller from any of seller's sales might be used to makepayments to the cash server. The seller would also identify a financialtransaction account that the cash server would have access to in orderto make the initial loan or advance and also to automatically take fundsfrom the seller using this account according to repayment terms.

From operation 500, the method proceeds to operation 502, whereinrepayment terms are stated by the cash server. This can simply be in theform of the cash server sending a communication typically via email ofthe repayment terms or presenting such terms via a web interface. Therepayment terms may be dictated by the cash server to the seller, or theseller may have had the option (in operation 500) to request particularterms (payment amounts, duration of loan, day of month to make payment,etc.). For example, a $10,000 cash advance against customers A and Bwould be repaid immediately from all funds received by A and B as fundsare received. Alternatively, another payment arrangement could be a$10,000 advance against customers A and B but $5,000 per month fromcustomers A and B would be taken on the tenth of each month for twomonths until the loan is entirely paid off. Thus, amounts per month inexcess of $5,000 received from A and B can be kept by the seller.Another payment arrangement could be that $1,000 per month would betaken out for ten months regardless of which of the seller's customers(sales) the $1,000 was generated from (thus the origin of the funds arenot relevant, $1,000 per month is taken regardless).

From operation 502, the method proceeds to operation 504, whichdetermines if money received in seller's financial account (identifiedin operation 500) is from any designated customers. If not, the cashserver would not have any right to take these funds, and the method canproceed to operation 512. In an advance arrangement that is notfactoring (particular receivables are not earmarked and all receivablesare used to make payments to the cash server), then this operation justchecks if there is money in the account (regardless of who it wasreceived from), in other words “designated customers” can be consideredall funds in the account.

In operation 512 the cash server can determine if the seller's accountis in default. If a repayment period has passed and the cash server hasdetermined that not enough funds have been taken out of the seller'saccount to meet the repayment terms, then the seller would be indefault.

If the seller is not in default, then from operation 512, the methodreturns to operation 504 which waits for more money to be received. Ifthe seller is in default, then the method proceeds to operation 514,which authorizes additional collection avenues against the seller. Thecash server (the lender or cash provider) would have other means tocollect at its disposal in the event that the seller does not meet itsrepayment terms (e.g., take any money in the seller's account regardlessof which customer it originated from, take legal action, etc.).

If in operation 504, money is received in the seller's account that isfrom designated customers, then the method proceeds to operation 506,which automatically transfers such funds from the seller's account tothe cash server as a repayment. If the money in the seller's account isin excess of what is required for repayment for the current term (e.g.,month), then only an amount that is in the agreed upon terms (inoperation 502) would be taken. For example, if the agreed upon termsdictate that the seller is to pay $1,000 each month for 3 months fromproceeds (receivables) from customer A, and at the first month theseller has receives $2,000 from customer A, then the cash server wouldautomatically transfer only the $1,000 and wait until the next repaymentterm (e.g., next month) to transfer another $1,000 (but could transfermore if necessary or desired).

From operation 506, the method proceeds to operation 508, whichdetermines if the entire loan or advance is repaid. If the entire loanor advance has not been repaid, then the method returns to operation504.

If in operation 508 it is determined that the entire loan or advance hasbeen repaid, then the method proceeds to operation 510, which completesthe entire transaction (loan or advance). Of course, the seller is freeto request another loan (or advance) at any time or may have remainingavailable funds if the cash server has provider seller with a cash linefrom which seller may take multiple advance up to the maximum availablebalance.

FIG. 6 is a window showing a loan or advance application, according toan embodiment.

Request window 600 can appear when a user activates a link (or other GUIinput) to apply for a loan or advance on a web site. The button to applyfor the loan or advance can be integrated with an online commerce site(e.g., EBAY, AMAZON.COM, etc.) so users of these sites do not have toseparately register with the entity making the loan or advance (thatadministers the cash server). In addition, the online commerce site cancooperate with the cash server and share information so that the cashserver would know information about the user (e.g., the user's name,address, financial information, sales information, etc.) without theuser having to provide this information (or access to this information)separately.

After the user clicks “apply” the request is transmitted (operations200) to the cash server for evaluation (FIG. 2). The request istypically evaluated and decided automatically, although in an embodimentthere may be situations where a human operator may be asked by the cashserver to approve the transaction.

FIG. 7 is a window showing a loan or advance approval, according to anembodiment.

An approval window 700 appears after the cash server has evaluated andapproved the request (made in FIG. 6). The terms are shown that the usermust agree if the user accepts the loan or advance. In an alternateembodiment, instead of a one-time approval amount and transaction, theuser can be presented with a cash line (e.g., a credit line) and wouldbe allowed to enter an amount of the cash line to receive as funds (withthe difference still being available for withdraw). The user would befree to return and draw down his or her cash line (until the entire cashline is used up) at any time.

The embodiments/figures illustrated herein can apply to any loan oradvance paradigm described herein, and the user is free to request whichtype he or she desires (e.g., traditional loan, advance, or advancebased on factoring).

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating an exemplary method of implementingrepayment of a cash advance, according to an embodiment.

The method can begin with operation 800, wherein a cash advance requestis approved. This can be done as illustrated in FIG. 3.

From operation 800, the method proceeds to operation 802, wherein thecash server designates repayment terms (e.g., interest rate, fees,discount, repayment period, cash advance amount, date payments are due,financial account used, etc.) The seller will typically have to acceptthese terms to have an officially binding contract.

From operation 802, the method proceeds to operation 804, which waitsuntil the next monthly payment is due. For example, if the payments aredue on the 10^(th) of each month, then no collection activity willhappen until this day.

From operation 804, the method proceeds to operation 806, whichdetermines whether the seller's account contains the monthly paymentamount. The cash server has access to the seller's financial account soit can see how much money is there and from what sources.

If in operation 806, it is determined that the seller's account doescontain the monthly payment amount, then the method proceeds tooperation 808, which deducts the required payment. This can be doneautomatically by using the financial account associated with the seller.In addition, if it is determined that the seller's account does notcontain the entire monthly payment but does contain at least someamount, then the method could also proceed to operation 808, whichdeducts the lesser amount for payment. In this case, the seller wouldcontinue to owe the balance of the amount owed (and, optionally, somefee or expense for insufficient funds).

From operation 808, the method proceeds to operation 810, whichdetermines if the repayment terms are complete (the loan or advance iscompletely paid off). If so, then the method proceeds to operation 812,wherein the entire transaction is completed. Of course the seller isfree to make a new loan or advance request at any time that funds areavailable to the seller, including upon paying down principal amountsdue.

If in operation 810, the repayment terms are not yet complete, then themethod returns to operation 804.

If in operation 806, it is determined that the seller's account does notcontain the agreed upon monthly payment amount (or contained a lesseramount) then the method proceeds to operation 814, which waits for anyfunds to enter the seller's account and quickly transfers funds to thecash server (or the cash server can wait for some amount of minimumfunds to be available). If operation 814 is reached, the seller isdelinquent and has missed the payment in operation 806. Once funds aredeposited into the financial account used by the seller and associatedwith the advance, these funds are automatically electronicallytransferred from the seller's account to the cash server. In oneembodiment, the cash server would take as much money from the seller'saccount in order to satisfy the past due amount. In another embodiment,once the seller has become delinquent on a payment, then the cash serverwould take as much funds in the seller's account as needed to satisfythe entire loan or advance amount (or, of course, can take some lesseramount at the cash provider's option).

From operation 814, the method proceeds to operation 816 whichdetermines whether the monthly payment is complete. If the monthlypayment is now completely paid, the method proceeds to operation 810. Ifthe monthly payment is not completely paid, the method would return tooperation 814.

FIG. 9 is a window showing an advance application, according to anembodiment.

Cash advance application window 900 can appear when a user activates alink (or pressed a button, etc.) to apply for an advance or a loan on acommerce site. The button to apply for the advance or loan can beintegrated with an online commerce site (e.g., EBAY, AMAZON.COM, etc.)so users of these sites do not have to separately register with theentity making the advance or loan (that administers the cash server) or,at least, facilitates adoption and use of the service. In addition, theonline commerce site can cooperate with the cash server and shareinformation so that the cash server would know information about theuser (e.g., the user's name, address, financial information, salesinformation, etc.) without the user having to provide this information(or to just facilitate the user's provision of access to the data).

After the user clicks “apply” the request is transmitted (operation 300)to the cash server for evaluation (FIG. 3). The request is typicallyevaluated and decided automatically, although in an embodiment there maybe situations where a human operator may be asked by the cash server toapprove all or a portion of the transaction.

FIG. 10 is a window showing an advance approval, according to anembodiment.

A loan or advance approval window 1000 appears after the cash server hasevaluated and approved the loan or advance request (made in FIG. 9). Theterms are shown that the user must agree if the user accepts the loan oradvance.

It is noted that the seller can make application for a loan (cashadvance, or other type of transaction where the seller receives money)right from the online commerce site itself (e.g., EBAY, AMAZON, etc.).The user would not have to separately log into a separate site, in thatthe entity hosting the cash server has an arrangement with the onlinecommerce site (or is the online commerce site itself or an affiliatethereof) so that information (e.g., any information about the seller andhis or her accounts, items for sale, sales history, financialinformation, etc.) can be shared between the online commerce site andthe cash server. Thus, a button (or tab) for requesting a loan oradvance is integrated into the online commerce site, notwithstanding itmay be operated by a different entity than the online commerce site. Inaddition, an app (program downloaded and installed on a portable devicesuch as a cellular phone) can also implement the methods describedherein.

Any component, server, database, computer, etc., described herein canalso be split up to comprise multiple components in a same or differentlocations (connected by a communications network). Thus, for example,while the commerce site host is referred to and pictured herein as oneunit, it can actually exist over different databases, servers,processors, storage devices, entities, etc. The reverse is also true inthat any reference to multiple servers providing the functionalityherein can be combined into one or more servers. Any connectiondescribed herein can either be a direct connection or indirectionconnection through other nodes or components (either described herein ornot). Further, any component or unit described herein can communicatewith any other component or unit described herein, whether suchcommunication is explicitly described herein or not.

In a further embodiment, the cash server can work with partner companiesin order to market the ability to get a loan or advance to customers(clients) of the partner companies. For example, if the ACME Company hasa customer list and wishes to market cash to the customers and theircustomer list, ACME can transmit their customer list to the cash serverwhich has access to the decision making process. The cash server canthen run the approval process (as illustrated in FIG. 2 or 3) for eachof these customers to determine which customers qualify for a loan oradvance and what terms. But instead of offering the loan or advance tothe customers, the cash server would transmit the approval status(accepted with terms or denied) for each of the customers to the ACMECompany. The ACME company can then contact (e.g., written mail, email,etc.) each of those customers that were approved to present them with a“prequalification letter”, that is, a letter which tells them that ifthey apply for an loan or advance they would be approved. Theprequalification letters can come from the ACME Company itself or fromthe cash server itself. This notification can also occur via a webinterface as the customers of the partner company visit the website ofthe partner company.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart illustrating an exemplary method of issuinginstant loan or advance prequalifications, according to an embodiment.

The method can begin with operation 1100, wherein the partner companygenerates a customer list. The customer list can be all of the customersof the partner company, or a select list of some customers of thepartner company (selected using certain criteria/criterion such as thosecustomers that make at least a predetermined amount of money, etc.).

From operation 1100, the method proceeds to operation 1102, wherein thepartner company transfers the customer list from operation 1100 to thecash server. The transfer can typically be done electronically whichwould identify each customer and provide identifying information of eachcustomer (e.g., social security number, etc.). In another embodiment,operations 1100-1102 are not required, as the cash server could generatethe initial customer list itself (e.g., from general advertising,demographic lists of potential customers, etc.).

From operation 1102, the method proceeds to operation 1104, wherein thecash server determines which of the customers in the customer list wouldbe approved for a loan or advance. This can be done as described herein.Terms for approved customers can be determined as well (e.g., how muchmoney each customer would be entitled to borrow, interest rate, etc.). Aloan or advance could also be considered a line of available funds andfrom which an amount (up to the total available cash) can be taken. Allof the embodiments described herein can take this form.

From operation 1104, the method proceeds to operation 1106 whichtransfers the qualified (approved) customers (and terms) from operation1104 to the partner. Alternatively, all customers from the originalcustomer list (from operation 1100) can be transmitted to the partneralong with each customer's respective status (denial, approval andterms).

From operation 1106, the method proceeds to operation 1108, the partnercan invite the qualified (approved) customers to then apply (or accept)the instant cash loan or advance. The invitation can typically be viaemail, although it can be made in other forms as well (e.g., paper mail,telephone call, text message, etc.). The invitation can also be madedirectly via a web interface during the application process so suchprocess can be continuous. The invitation can be branded on behalf ofthe ACME Company (and in fact, can be made through the ACME Companyusing the cash server without the customer knowing that the cash server(or any other party) is really involved). Or, the invitation can comedirectly from the company operating the cash server or an affiliatethereof.

In this manner, a company's customers can be given prequalificationswithout having to be initiated by the cash server (or the companyoperating it).

In a further embodiment, when a user registers with the cash server (orany type of server/system), the user can be presented with a profilebuilding system. A profile building system allows a user to enter (orprovide access to) some amount of initial information, for examplespecific items (e.g., name, email, etc.) and other information—eitherother specific requirements and/or information within specificcategories of possible information (e.g., a repayment account, amarketplace account, etc.). As stated, entering certain initialinformation is mandatory. Mandatory typically would be required in orderto open an account and/or have some amount of cash available. The useris invited to enter additional (and optional) information into thesystem, which is not required to maintain an account with the serverand/or have available cash but may be to the advantage of the user toenter. Optional information can be a variety of information thatelectronic systems can collect through access to a third party site orprovided by the user directly. In certain embodiments, if the data iscollected through access to a third party site, this data may bedifficult if not impossible for a user to manipulate—e.g., data relatedto sales occurring through an ecommerce marketplace which is collectedby the ecommerce marketplaces in connection with transaction executed onits system. Therefore, the data is not self-reported (and, consequently,more difficult to manipulate by the user). Other examples of data and/ordata sources include, without limitation, additional marketplace orchannels in or through which the seller distributes or sells productsand/or services, friend lists, fan pages, tweets, Twitter followers,blogs, bank account of the user (or a principle of the business),repayment sources, a list of all current assets, a list of all bankaccounts, a list of recommendations for the user, or any other suchinformation. It is in the server's (cash server or other server)interest to gather as much information about each user as possible. Themore information the server knows about a user, the more accurately theserver can understand and conduct transactions with that user (e.g.,make loan offers, make mortgage offers, etc.), offer additional capitalor modify rates, fees, discounts and/or charges. Typically, people andcompanies in general are reluctant to reveal personal information on aweb site or computer communications network, mainly due to privacyreasons. Thus, the server (including the company operating the server)should provide incentives to users to enter more of their personalinformation into the system.

This incentive can be achieved by providing “levels.” Each level canrepresent a different set of optional information (it can even be justone value), and when the user fills in the set of information then theuser has completed that particular level (although the user may haveadditional information that it can provide within that level then or inthe future). Each level completed would typically entitle the user to abenefit (although some levels may have no benefit). A user may fill outall possible levels, upon which the user would be entitled to themaximum benefit of using the system. A user may have filled out somelevels (but not all), wherein the user will receive some benefits offilling out the levels the user filled out but would not receive themaximum benefits (because all levels were not filled out). Thesebenefits can be specific to the user or generally available to anycustomer completing a particular level. The information to complete alevel may simply be account information so that the system can accessthe user's information on another platform (e.g., the user's accountnumber and password for a bank).

For example, if a user is applying for a loan or advance, and there arefive levels of optional information, if the user fills out all fivelevels the user would receive the lowest possible interest rate (e.g.,4%) or other reduced cost for accessing cash. If the user filled outthree levels (and omitted two of the levels) then the user can receive adiscounted interest rate (e.g., 5%) but not the best rate or otherreduced cost for accessing cash. If the user has not filled out any ofthe levels, then the user could be offered a highest interest rate(e.g., 6%) or other reduced cost for accessing cash because this userhas not filled out any of the optional information. There are other waysof implementing profile building, which may or may not involve thelevels as described above. Also, the benefit to the cash provider orlender in the customer providing access to additional information isthat the provider can get a better understanding of the customer and/oreasier access to repayment. More information can enable the cashprovider to gain comfort that the customer will be able to affordrepayment to a larger amount of cash. Access to additional repaymentaccounts will further reduce risk for the cash provider, because therewill be additional avenues to repayment. Therefore, it is possible forthe cash provider to increase the loan or cash amount and/or reduce thecost of the loan or advance to the customer.

It is noted that the user's level is a factor in determining transactionterms. For example, an interest rate on a loan or charges for an advancemay be determined by incorporating both the user's credit score and theuser's level. For example, Table I illustrates an example of using acredit score and a level reached to determine an interest rate.

TABLE I FICO score max level achieved interest rate <600 <5 10%  <600 58% 600-700 <4 9% 600-700 4 7% 600-700 5 6% >700 <4 6.5%  >700 4 5% >7005 4%

In the example in Table I, the user must fill in levels in a particularorder (e.g., complete level 1, then complete level 2, then completelevel 3, etc.) For example, a user with a credit score of 710 who madeit to level 4 (but not level 5) would get an interest rate of 5%.

In an alternative embodiment, the user is not required to fill outlevels in order and can pick and choose which levels to fill out (again,a level can simply be considered a set of one or more data fields forthe user to enter). In the latter embodiment, the determination oftransaction terms (e.g., interest rate, etc.) can incorporate creditscore (and other such information) and which particular levels the userhas completed (e.g., certain levels may be more beneficial to the userthan other levels). Table II represents one example of such embodimentusing a system that has only two levels.

TABLE II FICO score levels completed interest rate <600 none 10%  <600 19% <600 2 8% <600 1.2 7% 600-700 none 9% 600-700 1 8% 600-700 2 8%600-700 1.2 6% >700 none 7% >700 1 5% >700 2 6% >700 1.2 4%

In Table II, a user would be best off by completing both levels in orderto achieve the lowest interest rate.

In an embodiment, the data gleaned from filling out a level can also beused in order to determine the interest rate (or other terms that arecomputed). Also, the data provided does not necessarily have to beconsidered as separate “levels” but rather just comprise additionalinformation that would be useful in underwriting and valued by the cashprovider. In this embodiment, the interest rates (or other computedterms) are not determined using a discrete table but using a formulaicapproach using all of the inputted information with benefits achievedfor filling out more levels or simply providing access to additionalinformation. For example, a numeric score can be computed using allavailable information inputted into the system or obtained throughaccess to a third party site as a result of authorization by the user.The numerical score can be improved (e.g., increased by a value) foreach optional level completed (e.g., for each optional level completedthe user's score is increased by 1) or simply by providing access toadditional information (which information may fall into a category ofinformation that is important to the cash provider, such asmarketplace/channel data or repayment mechanisms). Thus, the terms ofthe transaction (e.g., interest rate, loan/advance amount provided oraccessible) is determined by the data obtained (which can be used todetermine a score) with an adjustment in the score for the levelscompleted (improvement for additional levels completed) or simply theinformation or repayment mechanisms obtained. There is, of course, apossibility that information provided could result in a decrease of cashbeing provided or rates (or charges) increasing. Thus, it is possiblethat a user who completes a level or provides access to information forall current assets may diminish his overall score if the user has littleor no assets. Even though the score may be increased by a predeterminedvalue (e.g., 0.5) for completion of this level, this still may result ina lower overall score (and hence worse interest rate or other charge orterm) than if the user had not completed the asset level. Alternatively,the algorithm can be designed such that even if the user achieves theworst score possible regarding the asset level (e.g., zero assets) withthe numerical incentive for completing the asset level, the user willstill achieve a better score (and hence a better interest rate for theuser) than if the user had not filled out (completed) the asset level atall (or simply result in no change to the score). While it may beassumed that a higher score is better for the user (and thus increasingthe user's score as an incentive will favor the user), it may be thatthe score metric is designed such that a lower score results in morefavorable to the user (as opposed to a higher score) and in thisembodiment as an incentive the user's score will be reduced by an amount(which will be to the user's advantage).

“Filling out” (or entering data) can mean a variety of manners ofcapturing information including gaining access to third party datasources typically with the permission of the user. Further, in certainembodiments, the user may add data sources at any time and, potentially,receive one or more of the benefits described herein when suchinformation is obtained and analyzed. Using levels is just one approachfor categorizing information that is desired to furtherunderstand/analyze a particular customer. Information could be providedby category and each category could have many possible datasubcategories that could be completed by the customer. The customer maycomplete anywhere from none to all of these data subcategories and,depending upon the degree of completion, gain access to additional cashavailability and/or better rates.

A graphical user interface (GUI) can be used in order to receive theinformation from the optional levels from the user or provide a path tothe user to provide the cash provider with access to data. Of course,there can be numerous implementations of a GUI and this is merely oneexample. A third party tool, such as YODLEE or CASHEDGE, may also beused to obtain this information.

When a user completes more of the optional information in the user'sprofile, this can (in an embodiment) serve to provide the user with anincreased cash line (the cash line being an approved amount of a loan oran advance).

FIG. 12 is a window showing a list of profile building levels, accordingto an embodiment.

The window 1200 shows five different optional levels (numbered 1 to 5)the user can fill in (this user has completed the first two levels sincethey are checked). If the user wants to complete a level (orreview/modify a previously completed level) the user can click theunderlined description of that level, which will then bring up a windowfor that level.

If the user clicks level 3 (“list all friends”) then the window in FIG.13 would be brought up. Instead of the user manually typing in all oftheir friends, as an alternative approach the user can be prompted forthe user's account name and password on a social networking site (e.g.,FACEBOOK) and one the user enters his or her username/password, thesystem can automatically sign onto the user's account and automaticallyscrape the user's list of friends. This approach can be done for avariety of sources, such as banks, financial accounts, social networkingsites, etc., wherein the user can simply provide the user's logoninformation (typically username and password) for different sites andthe system can automatically sign on and gather the information it needsfrom those sites. For example, providing the login information for theuser's FACEBOOK account could be considered to be completing a level (orset of data) and entitles the user to an incentive (e.g., an increasednumerical score). In addition the information gleaned from the accountcould be used in any decision making (for example if the user provideshis or her credit card login information and the system determines thatthe user has a good credit record (with this particular source) thenthis could weigh in the user's favor when the score is determined as towhether to approve the user's request (and the maximum amount to makeavailable). If the user has a bad credit record with this source thenthis could hurt the user's score although typically the user would begiven some type of incentive (such as an increase in the score) just forproviding the login information (although in an embodiment the usermight not be given such an incentive).

FIG. 13 is a window showing a friend list for a user, according to anembodiment.

Friend window 1300 allows the user to enter his friends. Friends can beemail addresses of the user's real life-friends, colleagues, etc. Thesystem can use this friend list in any way it sees fit (e.g., send anemail or message to each of these friends inviting them to join).

The user can then click “OK” to return to the window 1200.

It is noted that typing information manually is suboptimal and it iseasier for the user (and more accurate) if the system can retrieveinformation automatically directly from other sources. Thus, a user isencouraged to enter his or her login information for other web sites(such as YODLEE which can gain automated access to accounts). Theinformation retrieved in this manner can then be analyzed automatically.

FIG. 14 is a window allowing a user to enter login information for anumber of web sites with relevant information.

Window 1400 allows the user to enter login information for a number ofdifferent online sites which may contain personal information about theuser. Such personal information would be helpful when the system makes adetermination about whether to approve a money request from the user andif approved, the maximum amount that will be approved.

In window 1400, the user has entered the user's FACEBOOK logininformation. The system then can log into the user's FACEBOOK accountand gather data therein, such as the user's friend names, listedoccupation, fan pages of the user, etc. The user may be an individual(e.g., sole proprietor) or a business. The user also entered the user'sbanking login information. The bank name can be selected from adrop-down menu bar and the system would know the web address to log intofrom the bank name. The system can then log into the user's onlinebanking account and retrieve data such as the user's current balance,banking volume, etc. This data can be stored with the user's account inthe cash server and used in the scoring model to determine the user'sscore(s).

The user can be presented with an incentive for entering the logininformation (just as with entering other information manually). Forexample, if the user provides login information for certain sites, theuser can receive: an increased amount of cash (if approved), for examplean additional $1,000; an additional point in the user's score; a reducedinterest rate for repayment; or any other incentive. The user's score(as stated herein) can be used not just to determine whether the user isapproved, but other terms as well (e.g., amount approved for, repaymentterms, interest rate, etc.) A score can also be considered to be a setof values (more than one value), with different values used to determinedifferent terms (e.g., interest rate, amount advanced, etc.). Enteringlogin information for different web sites may each have their ownparticular incentives, and the system may (or may not) present the userwith the incentives as an encouragement for the user to enter the logininformation. If the user does not provide the login information, theuser will not receive the incentive (that the user would have receivedif he/she provided the login information) and can optionally (dependingupon the embodiment) receive a penalty (e.g., higher rate, etc.).

Login information can be collected and entered for any social networkingsite. For example FACEBOOK, TWITTER, LINKEDIN, etc. The system canautomatically log into the user's account on such sites (because theuser provides the login information such as the username/password) andrelevant information can be retrieved. Alternatively, there may be someother mechanism provided by the social networking site to gain access toa particular user's information. The relevant information can then beanalyzed in order to incorporate such information into the decisionmodel (which determines whether to approve a loan or advance to the userand how much cash to extend). For example, does the user has a fan page,how active is the fan page, how many people “like” the fan page, howactive are the comments on the fan page, how frequently are new articlesare posted on the fan page, etc. For example, for TWITTER, informationcan be analyzed such as how often does a user “TWEET”, how often is theTWEET or information RETWEETED, how many people the user follows, howmany people follow the user. Metrics can also be applied to the peoplewho follow the user (and/or the people who the user follows) and howsuccessful they are. For example, LINKEDIN can also be utilized toanalyze the employees in the user's company, how many peoplefollow/access the company's page on LINKEDIN, etc.

Such data can be relevant to the decision model. For example, a LINKEDINuser who has a company with more employees might be scored better (andhence be eligible for a higher amount of money) than if the same companyhad less employees registered on LINKEDIN.

TABLE III site metric significance FACEBOOK user has more friendsfavorable FACEBOOK user has less friends unfavorable FACEBOOK fan pageexistsfor user favorable FACEBOOK no fan page for user unfavorableFACEBOOK more people like user′s fan page favorable FACEBOOK less peoplelike user′s fan page unfavorable FACEBOOK more people comment on user′sfan page favorable FACEBOOK less people comment on user′s fan pageunfavorable FACEBOOK new articles posted more frequently on favorableuser′s fan page FACEBOOK new articles posted less frequently onunfavorable user′s fan page TWITTER user has more followers favorableTWITTER user has less followers unfavorable TWITTER user′s followershave more followers favorable TWITTER user′s followers have lessfollowers unfavorable LINKEDIN user′s company has more employeesfavorable LINKEDIN user′s company has less employees unfavorableLINKEDIN user′s profile has more views favorable LINKEDIN user′s profilehas less views unfavorable

Table III above is an example of how different metrics can be applied tothe user's account on different social networking sites and how they mayaffect the user's overall qualifications. In Table III, “favorable”refers to the user receiving a relatively better score (typicallynumerical score although it does not have to be numeric) which wouldtypically qualify the user for a loan/advance and/or help the userqualify for a greater cash amount. “Unfavorable” refers to the userreceiving a relatively worse score (typically numerical score althoughit does not have to be numeric), which would typically hurt the user'schances for a loan/advance approval or help reduce the cash amount forwhich the user would qualify. Typically, the metrics applied to a socialnetworking site will be combined with other metrics (as discussedherein) in order to determine the system's final decision regarding theuser (whether the user is approved and for what terms). Thus, in oneembodiment, the information used from the user's social networkingsite(s) may have a relatively small effect on the final decision for theuser. Different components of the analytic process may have differentweights (e.g., the user's banking information may be weighted at 40%while the user's social network information may be weighted at 10%, withthe user's sale's date weighted at 50%) of the final decision. Ofcourse, this is merely an example and the system could weight all of thedifferent data it has at its disposal in any selected manner.

In addition to the social sites mentioned above, of course any othersocial networking web site could be used and any type of data from suchsocial networking sites could be retrieved, analyzed and form part ofthe decision making process.

FIG. 15 is a flowchart illustrating an exemplary method of allowing auser to enter profile data using profile building levels, according toan embodiment.

The method can begin with operation 1500, which receives mandatoryinformation (data) from the user (e.g., real name, email address, etc.).Certain fields would be mandatory in order for the user to continue withthe registration process.

From operation 1500, the method proceeds to operation 1502, which offersthe user an option to enter optional profile data. The optional profiledata can be entered in levels as described herein. The user candesignate his or her desire to enter optional information by clicking aparticular area on a screen (or just by entering the optionalinformation).

If the user indicates a desire to entire optional information inoperation 1504, then the method proceeds to operation 1506 wherein theuser can enter the optional profile (level) data. The method can thenreturn to operation 1504, wherein the user can continue to enteroptional data (or modify data already entered).

From operation 1504, if the user does not wish to enter optionalinformation (or more optional information) then the method proceeds tooperation 1508 wherein the method continues. Continuing can mean anumber of things, such as the user logging off the account for the timebeing, or a transaction can be requested using the information enteredby the user.

FIG. 16 is a flowchart illustrating an exemplary method of determiningfinancial terms using a profile level, according to an embodiment.

In operation 1600, a request is received by a user to approve atransaction (e.g., loan, advance, factoring request, or anytransaction). The user typically does this by using a GUI on his or herweb browser that communicates with the cash server (or other server).The user can also use other electronic devices as well (e.g., tabletcomputer, mobile phone, laptop etc.) to use the system.

From operation 1600, the method proceeds to operation 1602, whichdetermines whether the transaction is approved. This can done by usingsome or all of the information the user has entered into the system(including optional levels) or provided access to and additionalinformation about the user that can be retrieved from an outside source(e.g., credit reports from credit bureaus), although depending on thealgorithms used some information may not be used. If the transaction isapproved then the terms of the transaction (e.g., loan/advance amount,interest rate, etc.) is determined as well using some or all of theinformation the system knows about the user (which includes informationthe user has entered as well as information that may be retrieved fromoutside sources (e.g., credit reports from credit bureaus, etc.)).Sources like YODLEE is another outside source that the user can providethe system access to so that the system can login to the YODLEE accountand automatically retrieve (and store) any data that the system findsrelevant to the user's account.

The determination of whether to approve the transaction and terms can beaffected by the optional levels (or information) that the user entered.For example, the loan or advance amounts (if the transaction isapproved) may be increased if the user filled out one or more optionallevels or provided access to sufficient information to warrantadditional cash (e.g., the max loan/advance amount the user wouldqualify for is $10,000 if the user filled out zero optional levels butwould be $15,000 if the user provided access to additional data). Onceagain, the user might have availability to some amount of informationbased on minimally required data. For example, if the user sellsproducts on EBAY and generates $2,500 per month in sales, the user mayhave access to $5,000 (as a loan or advance amount). If the same useralso sells on AMAZON and generates an additional $2,500 per month onAmazon, then the user may gain access to $10,000 because the cashprovider now recognizes the amount of sales that the user sells acrosstwo ecommerce sites. Further, the user may also sell through its ownwebsite and generate $10,000 per month doing so. By providing the cashprovider with access to data to confirm sales on the users own site, thecash provider may now give access to the user to $25,000 in a loan oradvance amount. Please note that the access outlined herein may occurthrough an automatic system for logging into third party sites includingthrough technology provided by companies such as YODLEE. The user willbe incented to provide the optional information (whether referred toherein as levels, categories, sets, etc.) because if they do not theywill not receive the incentive that would have been provided to them hadthey filled out the respective information (although the optionalinformation provided may negatively affect other terms determined by thesystem (e.g., higher interest rate, etc.) or it may positively affectthe other terms as well (depending on the content of the optionalinformation)).

From operation 1602, the method proceeds to operation 1604, whichdetermines whether the transaction was approved in operation 1602. If itwas not, then the method proceeds to operation 1606, wherein the user isinformed (either instantaneously on the web page or by email) that thetransaction was declined.

If the transaction was approved, then the method proceeds to operation1608, which displays the terms and requests approval (acceptance) fromthe user. The user can either accept or decline the transaction (bypressing appropriate links on the GUI). If the user declines thetransaction, then the method proceeds to operation 1614 wherein thetransaction is not processed. Note that funds offered can also be set upas a cash or credit line (similar to a home equity line of credit) wherethe user is provided with access to an amount of cash and can take aloan or advance from the line up to the total availability. Each amounttaken may be considered a loan, advance, transaction amount, or by someother term or terms.

If the user accepts the transaction, then the method proceeds tooperation 1612, wherein the transaction is processed by the server,which may include electronically transferring money (a loan or advance)to the user.

In a further embodiment, a seller can request a letter of credit (orletter of cash advance, which should be considered similar during thediscussion hereof). A letter of credit is generally known in the art andis a letter/confirmation that a cash provider can generate to guaranteea line of credit for a party without actually loaning or providing themoney to the party. In this way, the party can enter into transactionswith a third party who (after reviewing the letter of credit) knows thatthe party has access to the funds guaranteed in the letter of credit.The lender (or cash provider) does not have to lend or advance the moneyto the party unless the party requests the lender (or cash provider) tolend/advance the money (or pay a third party) up to the amountguaranteed in the letter.

In an embodiment, a letter of credit can be generated in the onlineauction context. A seller on an e-commerce web set (e-auction, etc.) mayneed a letter of credit for any business purpose of the seller (e.g., toshow another party the seller has the financial means to complete aparticular project). The cash server (or other party) can process arequest by the seller to generate a letter of credit for the seller. Theseller would typically request an amount of credit to be included in theletter of credit, although in an alternative embodiment the cash serverwould determine the maximum amount of credit to offer the seller and usethis amount of credit for the letter of credit.

FIG. 17 is a flowchart illustrating an exemplary method of issuing aletter of credit for a seller at an e-commerce web site, according to anembodiment.

The method can begin with operation 1700, wherein the seller makes arequest to a cash provider (which can be the cash server or otherserver/party) that the seller desires a letter of credit. The sellerwould also typically indicate the amount of the letter of credit(although this is not a requirement).

From operation 1700, the method proceeds to operation 1702 wherein thecash provider analyzes available data about the seller and usingalgorithms, makes a determination whether to approve or deny the letterof credit for the amount requested. This can be done using any of themethods described herein regarding approving a loan. If no amount isspecified, then the analysis can be done to determine whether a letterof credit can be generated and only if so, then the maximum creditamount that it can be generated for. Typically, whether the cashprovider is deciding to approve a loan or approve a letter of creditwould be the same approval process. In a further embodiment, theapproval process for a letter of credit might be similar to the loanapproval process but with a slight adjustment in the algorithms toreflect a letter of credit as opposed to a loan. For example, since thecash provider may not have to distribute the amount in the letter ofcredit, the seller may be a little more liberal in the amounts offered.

From operation 1702, the method proceeds to operation 1704, wherein ifthe determination determined not to issue the letter of credit, then themethod proceeds to operation 1606 which indicates to the seller that theletter of credit is denied.

From operation 1704, if the determination determined to approve theletter of credit, then the method proceeds to operation 1708, whichgenerates a letter of credit and the credit amount. If the sellerrequested (in operation 1700) an amount then this amount would be usedin the letter. If the seller did not request an amount, then the amountof credit would be determined in operation 1702 using an algorithm. Inone embodiment the seller would be required to specify a requestedcredit amount. In another embodiment, the seller would not be allowed tospecify a requested credit amount and the method would determine theapproved amount automatically, and in a further embodiment the sellercan optionally choose whether to request a particular credit amount (orlet the computer determine the amount which may be higher or lower thanthe amount the seller would need).

From operation 1708, the method proceeds to operation 1710, whichtransmits the letter of credit to a party that the seller requests it betransmitted. For example, the letter can be printed in PDF format andcan be emailed to a third party. The letter can also be made availableelectronically on a server using an authentication process (e.g.,encryption or other method) so that an interested party can verify thatthe letter of credit is authentic.

The letter of credit generally means that the guarantor (cash provider)agrees to loan up to an amount indicated in the letter of credit to theseller upon request by the seller (or transfer the money to an agreedupon third party). The letter of credit can have an expiration date sothat after a particular date has passed, the cash provider has nofurther obligations to the seller.

FIGS. 18-26 are screenshots of an example of the “profile building”embodiment, according to an embodiment. FIGS. 18-26 are merely examples,and it can be appreciated that many other implementations/arrangementscan be used.

FIG. 18 shows (by virtue of a circle with an ‘i’ inside) that the userhas already entered his personal information and business information,but has not yet entered his channels and financial institutions (asindicated by the circle with the plus sign embedded). The user currentlyqualifies for $4,400 in cash (the user has already entered someinformation from a first e-commerce site (e.g., another auction site)which qualifies him for this amount). The user can enter the otherinformation by clicking the boxes with the green circle.

FIG. 19 shows that the user is able to receive $4,400 in cash and caninitiated an automatic transfer of this cash (into the user's financialaccount) by pressing the “get cash” button on the bottom. The screenalso shows a payment plan of how the money will be repaid. Therepayments can be made automatically by taking each month's respectiveamount out of the user's financial account (typically the same accountthe money was placed into and also the same account the user uses toreceive payments from sales made on the auction site (e.g., EBAY)).

If the user clicks the “channel” box from the first screen shot, theuser will be presented with FIG. 20 which allows the user to select achannel to add (e.g., AMAZON.COM OR EBAY) or the user can enter both.

If the user clicks AMAZON.COM in FIG. 20, then FIG. 21 comes up, whichallows the user to enter the name of the bank account that the user usesto receive AMAZON deposits (which can be proceeds from sales made onAMAZON).

In FIG. 22, the user enters the name of his bank user to receive AMAZONdeposits.

In FIG. 23 (comes after FIG. 22), the user is now prompted to enter hislogin information for the bank entered in the fifth screenshot (e.g.,Wells Fargo).

In FIG. 24, the system is retrieving information from AMAZON and theWELLS FARGO account entered about the user. The system has retrieved theusers total AMAZON revenue and displays this ($19,162.47).

In FIG. 25, the user is now presented with a $12,000 amount of cash thatis available for the user to receive if the user wishes (because theuser's solid AMAZON sales data has improved the user's borrowing power).

In FIG. 26, the user can now receive the $12,000 by click the “get cash”button on the bottom of the screen and is also presented with a paymentplan for repaying the $12,000 (which would typically be repaidautomatically as discussed above). Thus, by adding the AMAZON data tothe user's account, the user was able to increase the amount of cashavailable to him. If the user also adds his EBAY account in a similarmanner (by clicking E-BAY in FIG. 20 and entering the respectiveinformation), and assuming the user's sales on EBAY are high enough, thesystem would then make additional money (higher than the $12,000)available to the user. This is because the user's sales combined on bothEBAY and AMAZON (in addition to the first site which qualified the userfor the initial $4,400) combine to give the user the ability to receivemore cash (because the user can afford the increased payments). If theuser adds his EBAY account but his sales (which are then retrievedautomatically) from the EBAY account are not significant (according tothe automated analysis) then adding the EBAY account may not result inan increased amount of cash to the user. A simple formula could be usedto determine the amount of cash to make available, such as the amount ofcash available can be a percentage of total combined sales (across allregistered commerce sites) subject to other approvals (such as a creditcheck) and other factors (which can also increase or decrease the amountof cash available).

Anywhere “auction,” “e-auction,” “electronic auction” are used herein,other types of commerce sites can be used interchangeably, such asnon-auction sites where items can be listed at a fixed price (e.g.,CRAIGSLIST, AMAZON Stores, EBAY (non-auctions), PROSTORES, SHOPIFY,etc.).

It is noted that the order of any of the operations described herein canbe performed in any order. Any operation described herein can also beoptional. All flowcharts herein are not intended to illustrate the onlypossible implementation, and modifications and deviations can be addedwhich include any feature described herein or based on well establishedprinciples. For example, while endless loops may be theoreticallypossible in some flowcharts, in reality such situations could be handledusing common sense approaches. Any embodiments herein can also be storedin electronic form and programs and/or data for such can be stored onany type of computer readable storage medium (e.g. CD-ROM, DVD, disk,etc.). All features can be combined with any other features withoutlimitation, including all features in documents incorporated byreference.

The descriptions provided herein also include any hardware and/orsoftware known in the art and needed to implement the operationsdescribed herein. All components illustrated herein may also optionallycommunicate with any other component (either illustrated/describedherein or not described but known in the art).

The many features and advantages of the invention are apparent from thedetailed specification and, thus, it is intended by the appended claimsto cover all such features and advantages of the invention that fallwithin the true spirit and scope of the invention. Further, sincenumerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilledin the art, it is not desired to limit the invention to the exactconstruction and operation illustrated and described, and accordinglyall suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, fallingwithin the scope of the invention.

What is claimed is:
 1. A system to approve a transfer of funds, thesystem comprising: a server storing mandatory information about a userin an electronic computer database; a network connection, from theserver, to a computer communications network; wherein the server isconfigured to execute instructions that perform: display on a user'sremote computer comprising a list of a plurality of levels, each levelout of the plurality of levels comprising a different type of optionalinformation; enable the user to select selected levels in anycombination of the plurality of levels in the list, wherein the listindicates which of the plurality of levels is selected; receivingoptional information from the user corresponding to the selected levels;store the optional information in the electronic computer database; anddetermine an amount of funds to provide to the user using the mandatoryinformation and the optional information if provided, and upon receivinga request from the user, initiating an electronic transfer of funds froma cash server to an account associated with the user, wherein as aresult of entering the optional information the user receives anincentive, wherein the incentive is an availability of funds that isgreater when the user provides the optional information than theavailability of funds if the user had not provided the optionalinformation.
 2. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the server isfurther configured such that the determine the amount of funds is madeby the server.
 3. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the serveris further configured such that the determine the amount of funds ismade by receiving the amount of funds from another party and the usingcomprises transmitting information of the user to the another party. 4.The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the server is furtherconfigured such that the incentive is also a lower cost associated withreceiving the transfer of funds.
 5. The system as recited in claim 1,wherein the server is further configured such that the optionalinformation is login information for a web site that containsinformation about the user, and the server uses information gatheredfrom automatically logging in to the web site using the logininformation.
 6. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the server isfurther configured such that the optional information is bankinginformation about the user.
 7. The system as recited in claim 1, whereinthe server is further configured such that a score is used to determinethe amount of funds.
 8. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein theserver is further configured such that the incentive increases theamount of funds.
 9. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the serveris further configured such that the incentive adjusts the score to bemore favorable to the user.
 10. The system as recited in claim 1,wherein the server is further configured such that the transfer of fundsis for a cash advance to the user.
 11. The system as recited in claim 1,wherein the server is further configured such that the transfer of fundsis a factoring arrangement with the user.
 12. The system as recited inclaim 1, wherein the server is further configured such that the transferof funds is a loan to the user.
 13. The system as recited in claim 1,wherein the server is further configured such that the transfer of fundsis a merchant cash advance to the user.